Ian Parry from Prestatyn was regarded as one of the country's most promising photo-journalists when he was killed while on an assignment for the Sunday Times in December, 1989.

He was 24.

A former pupil of Prestatyn High School, he joined the Journal as a 16-year-old and trained at Richmond College, Sheffield.

He was determined to make a name for himself and moved to London to work as a freelance. He impressed many picture editors and was commissioned by the Sunday Times to cover the Romanian war. Ian died when his plane crashed as he treturned home from Romania and colleagues established the Ian Parry Scholarship in his memory.

The competition, which offers a £3,000 prize, is open to photographers attending a full-time course or under 24 years of age.

Over the past 19 years the winners have come from all parts of the world and many have gone to become internationally famous.

Ian's friend and colleague Aidan Sullivan, who helped to found the scholarship, described the Welshman as "one of the finest young photographers to have entered Fleet Street in recent years.

"He had a great deal of personal discipline which he combined with flair, imagination and tremendous compassion.

"The Ian Parry Scholarship is not an event where you get a shiny trophy, a cheque, a handshake and then a fond farewell," he said.

"This is a community comprising all the friends of Ian, the majority of whom never knew him but who have all become part of his legacy."

This year's winner is 24-year-old Filipino Veejay Villafranca, whose portfolio was a study of life in one of the poorest parts of his home city of Manila.